Battle of Ixtlahuaca

The Battle of Ixtlahuaca was fought in 1524 during Spain's conquest of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish and native army of Hernan Cortes defeated a numerically superior Aztec army outside the recently-conquered Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, removing the threat to Spain's new capital in the Americas.

Background
In 1521, Hernan Cortes, with a handful of Spanish soldiers and a large army of allied native mercenaries, conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, a major early victory for Spain in the Americas. The vast Aztec Empire was far from conquered, however, as its various constituent city-states continued to resist Spanish conquest. The fragmented Aztec Empire continued the war, so Cortes left a small garrison of Spanish and native troops in Tenochtitlan (which he renamed to "Mexico") before departing from the capital to campaign against the Aztec city-states.

Cortes and an army of 2,134 troops (again, including a small contingent of Spanish armored lancers and arquebusiers, and a huge force of native mercenaries) left Mexico to deal with the Aztec warlord Quilaztli of Tehuacan, whose large army had positioned itself outside of the city. Rather than be besieged within Mexico's walls, Cortes marched out to meet the Aztecs in battle at Ixtlahuaca.

Battle
The Aztecs held the high ground and had numerical superiority, but they faced a foe which had been battle-hardened and was better-equipped. Cortes sent his native allies to form the vanguard of his army, charging into battle against the Aztec defensive positions on the high ground; at the same time, the Spanish soldiers flanked the Aztecs from both sides and charged their weak rearguard. Quilaztli and heaps of his soldiers lay slain as the Spanish and their native allies drove the Aztecs from the field, nearly annihilating their army. 1,402 Aztecs were killed, while 161 were captured; the Spanish and their native allies lost just 285 men. Following the battle, the Aztecs refused to pay the ransom for their prisoners, so the Spanish executed the Aztec prisoners in mass hangings. The victory at Ixtlahuaca spared Mexico from any Aztec assault, and Mexico was soon named the new capital of New Spain to appease Spain's newer, mainland North American subjects.